Young child hit by bullet in Waterloo

Waterloo police are investigating a shooting in a residential area Thursday afternoon that left a child wounded. A bullet went through the wall of a home and hit a four-year-old boy in the stomach. He underwent surgery and remains hospitalized in stable condition.

Leon Mosley, a former Black Hawk County supervisor who worked to organize a meeting to address gun violence last month, told KCRG-TV he’s having a hard time processing the details of the case.

“When it gets to be a four-year-old kid, it’s overwhelming,” Mosley said. He also pointed out police responded Wednesday night to a report of shots fired about three blocks from where the child was shot.

“When good people don’t want to help and they don’t want to get involved, that’s why we’ve got murders and people keep getting away with stuff,” Mosley said. Thursday’s shooting marks the latest gun violence in the neighborhood on Waterloo’s east side.

A 52-year-old man was shot dead in his home in December 2014 and so far, there have been no arrests. Two months before that, a 17-year-old girl was killed by gunfire in a street only two blocks away from Thursday’s shooting. No one has been charged with her murder. “People know what’s going on, they just won’t talk,” Mosley said. “I know some kids who want to talk, but their grandparents won’t let them talk.”